Innocence
by The Book Queen
Summary: We all know what happened to the Garde on earth. But what happened before they arrived? What were they like before they had to dedicate their lives to running, fighting and hiding? What were they like when they were still innocent children? This is just a bunch of little stories of what I think happened on the one-year journey to Earth. Rated T to be safe. Ideas are appreciated.
1. Chapter 1: Dessert

**Sandor-**

Nine squeals and runs away from me as I grab for him. "Can't catch me!" he exclaims as he darts beneath me. I sigh as Nine runs out the door of our so-called room, laughing as I follow. This is a little game of ours. We would each try to catch each other off guard and tackle them to the floor. It's easier said than done; Nine's winning 11 to 4! Something wraps around my knees tightly and I fall to the floor with a loud thud. Never mind. He's winning 12 to 4. The reason he always wins is that I tire faster than he does. I swear, that kid's on a never-ending sugar rush. I don't usually mind Nine's hyperactivity, but now he's supposed to be sleeping and I'm exhausted.

"C'mon Nine, time for bed," I call to him softly.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yeah-uh." Nine crosses his arms when I say this.

"Nuh-uh!" he replies, louder than before.

"Time for bed, Nine," I say as I pick him up.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" he screams. I hear rustling in another room.

"Sandor, put your goddamn Garde to sleep already! He's keeping us all awake!" Henna, Three's Cêpan yells. Nine is staring quietly at me. He looks like he's about to cry.

"He doesn't like me?" Nine asks in a small voice. Oh no, he's taking Henna's outburst the wrong way.

"No, no, no, buddy, he didn't mean it like that," I say. "He's just grumpy because we were playing too loud, okay? We just have to make sure we go to bed with everyone else to avoid conflict."

"Okay, if it will avoid confi… confic… conflit…"

"Conflict," I say with a smile. He returns it.

"Conflict," he repeats happily. I can see he's still a bit nervous about Henna. I'll have to talk that Cêpan later. We hold hands as I walk Nine back to his sleeping quarters.

* * *

"Sandor! Wake up! Up, up, up, UP!" I groan and turn over, looking my charge. His hair is messy and his eyes are as bright and as playful as ever. I turn my head back over and he frowns. "GET UP!" Nine yells in my ear.

"I'm up! I'm up!" I say back to him as I try to get dressed. After I pull on my shirt and brush my hair, I go to Nine.

"NOOOOOO!" he squeals as I attempt to brush his hair. I sigh.

"C'mon, I have to brush it," I say. Nine's already starting to annoy me. But then again, _everything_ is annoying me. I blame it on lack of sleep. I wrap an arm around his tiny waist and use the other to brush my Garde's hair.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! OW!" he yelps as I try to brush through a tough knot of hair. He tries to swat me away as I pull the comb over his head. A good ten minutes later, I'm done.

"Now was that so bad?" I ask him. He nods his head.

"Yes." I roll my eyes and lead him to breakfast.

* * *

"Yucky!" One complains and she pokes at her breakfast. I admit it, the food isn't nearly as good as food on Lorien, but it'll have to do for now. Nine pushes his plate away too.

"I want Grandpa's stew," he says.

"Thith ith dithguthting!" whines Five. He's slightly younger than the majority of the Garde and mostly just imitates them. Nine hates it though and often complains. Not all the Garde hate the food. Four is just eating quietly and listening to Brandon. Sometimes, I wish Nine could be more like him.

"Well if you don't eat breakfast, you don't get dessert," I say. Some of the other Cêpans look at me like I'm a genius. Nine's eyes widen.

"I want dessert!" he cries as he stuffs a fork full of food in his mouth. The other Garde start eating too.

"You also have to eat lunch and dinner," I say and they all nod.

"You better behave too or else Mr. Sandor won't give you dessert, even if you eat all of you meals," Adel says while trying to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah," Reynolds, who is also trying hard not to laugh out loud, snickers. All of the other Cêpans nod while smiling.

* * *

I sit on my bed after lunch, reading, when I hear someone crying softly. I get up and move towards the sound and come across Seven siting on the floor with a broken doll in her hands. She sniffles and looks up at me.

"Can you fix it?" her voice is shy and small. "I was giving it a makeover so that Eight will like it, b-but then it broke." I smile down at her.

"I think I can fix it," I say and I hold out my hand. She takes it and follows me to the supply closet. After taking out the things I need, I sit down and inspect the doll. Its hair is ragged and cut short and its skin is painted.

"Were you trying to make it look like Eight?" I ask her. She turns red and nods. I smile. Seven and Eight are extremely cute together. I glue the doll's head back on and take out the paints. Seven helps me choose a color and we work as a team to re-paint the doll's skin and fix its hair. When we finish, we sit back and admire our work. It's not the prettiest doll in the world, but together Seven and I had successfully created a hand-painted boy doll that I'm sure Eight will love.

"Thank you!" she says happily as she takes the doll. I watch her as she skips over to Eight and gives it to him. He gasps.

"Did you make this for me?" he asks. Seven nods

"Mr. Sandor helped me, but it was my idea," she replies. Eight grins and takes the doll.

"I love it! Let's play!" The two of them rush off to get Seven's doll and the doll house. While they play, Adel walks over to me.

"Did you do that?" she asks, looking at my paint-covered hands and then at Seven and Eight. I nod and she smiles. "That's so sweet." I blush when she says this.

"I just couldn't stand to hear her cry," I say to her and she smiles.

"Adel! Sandor!" Seven runs over and holds out two dolls for us. "Come play!" Adel and I smile at each other and walk over to where Eight is sitting.

* * *

All of the children sit excitedly at the table as dinner is given to them.

"After this, we get dessert. Right?" Six says when Kater hands her dinner. Kater nods and gives dinner to Seven, Eight and Nine. After thanking the elders for our food, we all dig in. The food is bland (like always) but the kids still eat it, hoping for dessert. About ten minutes later, everyone is finished eating and I go to help Albert and Hessu get the pudding. After grabbing what I can, I enter the room and start to hand out pudding cups. Nine squeals with delight when I hand him his dessert.

"Yay! I love pudding!" he cheers. All of the other Garde are smiling and eating while us Cêpans sit down and eat. It's delicious.

"Mmmmmmmmmm," Two coos while grinning in delight. The others nod in agreement. A couple of minutes after everyone is finished, Brandon stands up to make the dreaded announcement.

"Time for bed," he says wearily. All nine of the Garde groan. This is going to be a long night.


	2. Chapter 2: Nightmares

**Adel-**

Something tickles my feet, causing me to sit up in surprise. I take in my surroundings. A few "rooms" down, Sandor is snoring and practically dead to the world and Reynolds is rolling around in his bed in the "room" next to me. On my other side, Kater is sleeping soundly. The thing tickles my feet again and crawls up into my bed. I sigh when I realize it's just Seven, but my worry comes back when I see her face. It's tear-streaked and pale. She looks like she just woke up from a horrible nightmare that kids her age shouldn't be having.

"What's wrong Seven?" I ask her quietly, not wanting to wake the others. She just looks down, her gaze filling with new tears.

"I h-had a nightmare," she whispers. I start to ask her about it when she interrupts me. "It was about my family back home. I watched them blow up…" She puts her head in her hands and starts to sob. _So I'm not the only one having nightmares around here_.

"It's okay. They're just dreams, Sev-" I start to say but she interrupts me.

"No, It's not okay! Everybody keeps dying! Everybody keeps… keeps…" She trails of again and cries harder. I rub her back and glance around. Nobody's awake yet. It's just us.

"You're right," I say. Seven looks up at me, the horror clear on her face. "It's not okay. Everybody keeps dying. I get it. It's upsetting. But think about it, everyone back home fought for us. They fought for us because they knew that you are strong, that all of you are strong. They knew that you're strong enough to tough out a little nightmare because they knew that someday you would do great things. I know that too. I know that they made the right choice. Now you're the only person that still needs to learn that and I'm not gonna let a little nightmare get you down and make you feel bad. Okay?" I smile, feeling proud of my little speech and feeling even prouder when Seven nods and smiles too.

"Okay!" she replies while reaching over and hugging me. The two of us grin in the darkness for a couple of minutes. "What kind of legacies do you think I'll get?" she asks first at a quiet voice, but then quieting down to a tiny whisper when Reynolds shifts.

"I don't know," I say honestly. "But I do know that they'll be AWESOME!" I whisper-shout. She smiles wider after I say this.

"Maybe I get a legacy where I can make ice! Then I'll be the Ice Queen! Or, or…" I laugh while her eyes grow wide. "Or maybe I will be able to FLY! Wouldn't that be super-duper cool?"

"That would be super-duper cool, but you have to get a good-night's sleep so you will be ready for them when the time comes," I say and she smiles.

"Okay! I'll go to sleep now so I can wake up early in the morning!" she whispers as she runs out of the door and down the hall back to her bed.

"You are quite the miracle worker," a voice says and I jump. Reynolds is looking at me and smiling. "And you only woke up one person, congratulations."

"No, she woke up two people," I turn to see Kater sitting up beside me. I blush and she smiles. "That was a very motivational speech, Adel."

"Just go to sleep already!" Sandor groans from his bed and we laugh.

"Yep. Guys, we should listen to Sandor and go to sleep. Alright?" Reynolds says. We laugh again and I lie down and listen to the other's breathing. Listening to the other's breathing helps to calm me. It makes me feel like I'm at home and sharing a room with my sister again. The memory takes over and I soon drift into a deep sleep.


	3. Chapter 3: Fairy Tales

**Conrad-**

"What's this?" I look over at Two as she sits on the ground with a book in her hand. She opens it and starts to read. "Once upon a time, deep in a forest, there was a house…." I make my way over to her and look over her shoulder. The book is from Earth and it is about how a girl finds a house in the middle of the woods that happens to belong to a family of bears. I smile at her and slowly ease the book out of her hands.

"Do you want me to read this to you?" I ask her. She nods eagerly as a reply. I open the book and continue to read from where she left off. "The house was home to three bears. The first bear was small. He was the child of a medium-sized bear and a large bear. The medium-sized bear was the mother and the large bear was the father. They lived in the forest for a long time. They had seen no one for years, well, until Goldilocks found them. Goldilocks was just an average girl who was very curious. She stumbled upon the house one day while she was exploring the forest. When she found the house, she tried opening the door. It swung open easily, so she thought no one lived there. Goldilocks, who was the curious girl she always was, decided to walk in. When she entered, she found three bowls of porridge. Goldilocks tried the first one, but it was too cold. She tried the second one also, but it was too hot. But when she tasted the third one, she discovered that it was just right, so she ate it. During further exploration, Goldilocks found three chairs. The first chair was much too large and the second chair was too small but the third one was perfect! Goldilocks decided to sit for a while before exploring more. After wandering around for a couple more minutes, Goldilocks found a bedroom with three beds. The first one was too hard. The second one was too soft. The third one was just right. While lying on that bed, Goldilocks grew tired. She quickly fell asleep," I look over at Two, who is still listening intently.

"Don't stop!" she cries. "Keep going!"

I laugh and read on, "When Goldilocks woke up, she was greeted by the three bears. None of them looked happy. The smallest bear glared at her and said, 'You slept in my bed!' Then the medium bear accused, 'You sat in my chair!' The largest bear was also unhappy. 'You ate my porridge!' he growled. Goldilocks was scared. She quickly jumped up and ran out of the house and back to her village. When she got back, her family was extremely relieved. They thought she had disappeared forever. That night, when Goldilocks lay in her own bed, she vowed to never walk into seemingly vacant houses in the middle of the woods ever again and she swore to never let her curiosity get the best of her. The end." I look over at Two, who seems fascinated by the little fairy tale.

"Wow. Now I know to never walk into anyone's house, even if it's in the middle of the woods," she muses, trying to sound older than she really is, and then turns to me. "Is there more?"

"Yeah, there's a ton of other stories in here," I say while flipping through the book.

"Really?" I laugh at how excited she is.

"Yep," I reply. "Maybe tomorrow I can read you another one."

"YAY! I CAN'T WAIT!" she squeals, runs over to me, hugs me tight and whispers, "You're really good at telling stories. Someday I want to tell them just as good as you do." The last sentence that Two said brings tears to my eyes because I know that there might not be a someday for Two.

"Yeah, then you can tell me stories!" I say and she grins.

"I love you, Conrad. You're the best storyteller I know," Two says quietly. She looks up at me and I smile at her.

"I love you too."


	4. Chapter 4: Bath Time and Cunning Tricks

**Okay, so I finally figured out how to do these little notes. (Sometimes I'm kinda slow) And I just wanted to apologize for not updating. I probably will only update once a week. This chapter was only supposed to be about when the Garde take a**** bath but it turned into Nine and Eight versus Sandor, Reynolds and Brandon in a prank war at the end. **

* * *

**Brandon-**

"Bath time!" I announce. The ship only has a limited amount of water, so we can only take monthly baths. After announcing this, I get nine looks of horror directed at me. One is aghast.

"**_You_** are going to give **_me_** a bath!?" she gasps. I sigh; she does this every time.

"No, Adel is going to give you a bath. Not me," I respond quickly. One looks relieved, but the other boys don't.

"You're gonna get shampoo in my eyes!" Nine shouts and Five nods. Three and Four sit quietly. I sigh, again.

"No, I won't. I promise," I say while flashing a boy scouts sign. Sandor chuckles.

"Don't worry buddy, I'll help," he offers. The other male Cêpans nod as if they're saying that they will too. I know they won't.

Water splashes on my shirt and I frown. Sandor chuckles from behind me. This is the third time I've been splashed in the past five minutes.

"Okay boys, no splashing water on me. Got it?" I say.

"But you need a bath too!" Nine responds and splashes me again. Sandor grins.

"Want a towel, Brandon?" he says as he starts to laugh again. I roll my eyes and Eight giggles.

"Yeah, you need a bath too!" the little Garde says. "And Mr. Sandor does too!" Sandor smiles when Eight says this.

"Nope, not now. This is your bath time," he says and winks at me. "I'll just go get my good friend Brandon here a towel, it looks like he needs it." All of the kids in the bathtub giggle as Sandor exits the room. I take out the shampoo and start to squirt some in my hands.

"You're gonna get it in my eyes!" Nine shouts when I come close. I sigh and move on to Four. When I approach, he leans his head back and lets my wash his hair. Three and Five do the same when I come to them.

"My turn!" Eight exclaims as I scoot over. I smile at him and squirt more shampoo in my hands. As I rinse his hair, I turn to Nine.

"You're next," I say. Nine shakes his head. Of course, Nine is the one holding up the bath. _Shocker_.

"No!" he evades me when I attempt to wash his hair. After about three tries, I turn to Sandor, who has recently entered the room with a fresh towel.

"A little help?" I ask him. In response, Sandor laughs and comes over.

"Hey buddy, you gotta let Brandon wash your hair. Okay?" he says to his charge. Nine looks at me cautiously, as if he suspects I'm going to hurt him. "Brandon won't get it in your eyes, I promise." I smile and nod at the little boy. He gives in.

"Fine." Nine grunts. I move over and start to wash his hair. When I'm done, Sandor and I lift the boys out of the bathtub and wrap them in a towel. Reynolds comes in with their pajamas and the children get dressed.

"Time for bed," I say as Sandor and I gently push them out of the door. Five yawns and Four looks exhausted. Eight and Nine are the exact opposite.

"But I'm not tired!" They protest simultaneously. I cast a glance at Sandor and he smiles.

"Don't worry, I got this," he says as he walks over and scoops Nine up off the ground. He then proceeds to do the same to Eight. The young Cêpan walks across the room and places the two children on their beds. "C'mon now, go to sleep." He gets two vigorous head shakes as a response. "Well then, would you like to tell that to my little friend?"

Reynolds sees Sandor's plan and says, "Ah, can I help? I'm also of good friend of… his."

"Who is he?" Nine asks in a hushed tone. Eight is sitting wide-eyed in suspense.

"His name is…" Sandor starts.

"…The… TICKLE MONSTER!" Reynolds finishes as he darts forward and tickles his Garde on the stomach.

"AHHHHHHH!" he shrieks happily. Nine shrinks back, giggling as Sandor approaches him. Sandor raises his eyebrows menacingly and advances forward.

"OKAY! I'LL GO TO SLEEP!" the small, black-haired child screams when Sandor tickles his feet lightly.

"Alright," Sandor says as he stands back up. "Goodnight." The three of us exit the room after shutting off the lights. As we leave, Nine gasps.

"You tricked us!" he whisper-shouts. "You tricked us into going to bed!"

"Mmm hmm, yes we did," Sandor smirks while he says this. Someone giggles and we shut the door. Sandor, Reynolds and I don't leave though. We sit and listen to their conversation.

"We should get them back!"

"Yeah! We should!"

"Soon, though. I'll forget if we wait too long,"

"We will, probably tomorrow,"

"Yay! I'm excited!"

"Let's go to sleep. I'm tired."

"Okay, we don't wanna be sleepy tomorrow. My mama taught me all kinds of pranks that she liked to pull on people."

"Really?"

"Yeah. They're really fun!"

"I can't wait!"

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight." After they finish talking, I turn to Sandor and Reynolds.

"Looks like the boys are going to prank you tomorrow," I say.

"We might just have to start a prank war…" Reynolds muses and Sandor laughs quietly.

"But we can't get them too bad, they're just kids," Sandor reminds us as we walk back to our room and climb into bed.

"Yeah, they're just kids who probably don't even know how to prank," I say and we laugh again.

It's funny how we changed our minds about that when we woke up with mustaches drawn on our faces in permanent maker that didn't come off for a whole week…

* * *

**How was it? Was it good? I can't seem to come up with any ideas so feel free to suggest something.**


	5. Chapter 5: Painting The Boring Walls

**To make up for missed weeks, here's another update. I didn't realize how short it is until just now. Everything looks much longer in Microsoft word...**

* * *

**Reynolds-**

When I walk into the main play area of the ship, I notice Eight sitting on the floor, looking bored.

"Hey buddy, what's wrong?" I ask. He looks up at me when I speak.

"I'm bored," he replies. "The floors are boring, the beds are boring and the walls are boring. The whole ship is boring!"

"Hmmm, maybe we can find a way to make the ship less boring," I suggest. His face scrunches up in concentration as he brainstorms a way to have fun.

"Maybe… we can… paint the walls?" Eight looks at me for approval. I nod and smile.

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea. You go find your friends and I'll get the paint," I say. We both get up and complete our tasks.

o0oOo0oOo0oOo0oOo

When I return, all nine of the Garde are sitting on the floor. I smile at them and hold up the paints.

"Who wants to help Eight and I re-decorate these walls?" I ask. There are immediately nine hands raised.

"Me! Me! I wanna help decorate!" Three exclaims.

"Me too!" Nine yells enthusiastically.

"Me three!" Six announces.

"All right, come and choose your colors. I've got plenty," I say and they all rush over. I assign them each a section of the wall so they don't fight about space and sit back while watching them. I see Eight walk over to Seven and ask her if she wants to help him with his picture. Her response is adorable.

"Uh-huh, yeah. I'll help you!" she says eagerly yet shyly. I look at the others and see Nine painting a forest that has dusty red sand as ground. Eight and Seven are painting a mountain with a rainbow. Six is painting a beach. Five is painting The Spires of Elkin and Four is trying to paint a family portrait. Three is also painting a forest, but it is different from Nine's. Three's forest has lush, green grass and plants everywhere. Two is painting a picture that resembles Conrad reading to her. One is painting a self-portrait. After I finish decoding their messy artwork, I walk over and congratulate them. Right as I'm done, Brandon walks in. Hessu, Kater, Kentra and Sandor follow him.

"What is going on in here!?" Brandon exclaims. Sandor bursts into a fit of laughter when he sees the young children's artwork and Brandon's face.

Kentra smiles and says, "Looks like the kids gave this place a makeover." He makes his way over to Five and pats him on the head.

"Awww, this is so cute!" Kater exclaims while walking over to Six. Sandor, having recovered from his laughter, walks over to Nine.

"That's Malka, right?" he says and Nine nods. He looks pleased that Sandor could tell what it is.

"You all painted your homes, didn't you," Hessu says quietly. She gets a bunch of nods as a response. Brandon softens up as he inspects their work.

"Wow," he mutters as he looks at the pictures. "I was going to ask you to clean this up but I kind of want to keep these paintings." The nine children smile. "But," he says. "You do have to clean up the leftover paints and bushes." All of the Garde groan.

"I'll help since I got the supplies out," I say as I bend down and start to pick the paints up. Sandor, Kentra, Kater, Hessu and Brandon walk out.

"I'll pick up the brushes," Two volunteers.

"I'll help," One offers.

"Okay!" Two responds. Nine and Eight get cloths to clean the floor while Seven, Six, Five, Four and I pick up the paints. Three helps Two with the brushes. In no time, we're done cleaning up and leave the room to join the other Cêpans.

* * *

**Any ideas? I was thinking of doing the next chapter about learning languages or maybe someone's birthday. I'll probably update soon because I have tomorrow AND Tuesday off! *does a happy dance and sings obnoxiously* But who knows, I might get caught up in doing all of the homework my teachers gave. *sighs and stops dancing* **


	6. Chapter 6: The Surprise Party

**Okay, I know you all wanted something Six-related, and I wanted to do this about Six and her birthday but there's one problem:**** I really don't know how to do a toddler's point of view. If I could figure that out, Then there would be eight new POVs (I consider One old enough to have a POV). I would have done this from Kater's point of view but I liked it better when the narrator was the birthday girl/boy. **

**DISCLAIMER: If I owned Lorien Legacies, there would already be a fifth book, Eight would be alive and Five would not be a traitor. **

* * *

**One-**

I wake up feeling extremely happy. It's my birthday! I can't wait to see what everyone has planned. As I get out of bed and get dressed I realize that there is no one else in the room. It's just me. Weird.

"Guess what day it is!" I say excitedly as I leave my room. I get no response. There's no one in the hallway either. Frowning, I walk to the kitchen; hoping there is a special breakfast reserved just for me. When I get there, I see Adel absent-mindedly getting out our usual packets of space-food. Yuck.

"Hi One," she says. She doesn't even know. I thought all the Cêpans knew our birthdays. I pout and Adel finally pays full attention to me.

"Do you know what day it is!?" I ask her.

"Yeah, it's Tuesday," she responds.

"Arrgh! No! Today is more than just Tuesday!"

"Really? What's so special about today?"

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" I scream at her.

"Oh. Happy Birthday!" she says quickly. I scowl and exit the room. I'm frustrated. How could they just _forget_ my birthday? I decide to go to the play area. At least one of those little kids has to know, right?

When I enter, Three and Five are playing with toy cars while Six, Eight and Nine are wrestling. Seven is drawing with Two in the corner.

"Does anybody know what today is?" I ask loudly.

Eight looks up at me. "No," he says innocently. I'm furious.

"IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!" I scream for the second time that morning. Five shrinks back when I yell and Seven stares at me.

"Why didn't you say so?" she says.

"Ugggh! Never mind!" I turn and storm back to my room. When I get there, I sit on my bed and sulk. I eventually get bored and decide to grab the book that's lying on my nightstand. I read for about three hours, and then get interrupted by my Cêpan.

"Hey One," she starts. "I've got a surprise for you. It's in the dining hall, do you want to come see it?"

"No," I snap.

"Please?" she begs. I roll my eyes and get off of my bed. Hessu smiles and leads me to the dining room. Whatever it is, I'm sure that I'm definitely **_not_** going to like it. The lights are off when we enter.

"SURPRISE!" I take a step back when Every Cêpan (except mine) and all the other Garde children jump out from their hiding spots. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they all yell. So the did remember, it was just a surprise party.

"Th-thank you," I stammer. I'm surprised. I thought they didn't care.

"We even got you special chocolate pudding!" Four exclaims excitedly. The other Garde look eager to eat the dessert.

"Really? You got me a special dessert?" I ask.

"No, we _made_ you a special dessert," Nine corrects. Eight giggles.

"We also made a mess in the kitchen," he laughs. I then realize that all the Garde are covered in ingredients that are needed to make pudding. Sandor and Adel are covered too.

"Yep and we supervised," Sandor says while playing with his shirt. Henna laughs.

"You sure didn't do a very good job," he says with a smirk. I laugh.

"Can I taste my special pudding?" I ask. They nod. I walk over to the bowl and stick my finger in. After removing my finger and licking it clean, I realize how good this pudding is. "Mmmmmmm, this is delicious!"

"Can we have thome?" Five asks timidly. I nod and all the Loric surrounding me move closer to get their share of pudding. Five minutes later, we had successfully eaten all the dessert. Two yawns.

"I'm tired," she announces. Several others nod and Conrad picks Two up.

"Well then, I guess it's time for bed," Brandon says. For once, no one complains. Everyone is too full of delicious pudding to do anything else.

* * *

**I just realized that these are all really short. I apologize for that. And now... It's question time! Was it good? Was One to mature? (I don't know her exact age) What should I do for the chapter about Six? I was also thinking of writing a post Fall of Five fic, but I might wait to start it until I finish this. I would start now but it's hard for me to keep up even with just this one story.**


	7. Chapter 7: Play Fighting

**Ta-daaaa! Just as I promised, it's Six centered (with a bit of childish Nix). Hmm, do you think some of the Cêpans should start to fall for each other? Maybe have a bit of love/drama? Maybe, like, Sandor and someone? Henna and someone? Someone and someone? Should I try Crayton's POV? Would that be interesting? Thanks for all the AWESOME reviews! You are all amazing! :)  
**

* * *

**Kater-**

"KATER!" Six screams at the top of her lungs. I suppress a groan and walk over to my charge.

"What's wrong?" I ask. Six pouts and points at Nine.

"He's bein' a meanie!" she says. Nine's response is a frown.

"Nu-uh. I'm not a meanie, you're a sore loser!" he shouts back at her. Six's face twists with frustration.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"NO!" Six howls. She then proceeds to run and tackle him to the floor. All it takes is three seconds of wrestling until both of them are consumed by wild giggles. "Rematch?" Six asks, her anger from before replaced with excitement. I can't believe how fast her mood changed. Nine nods and starts to squirm under Six's grip, looking for a way out. Six laughs triumphantly and is cut off by Nine throwing all of his force upwards. He manages to shove Six off of himself and get up. Then, he leaps forward and catches Six when her guard is down. The duo topples down to the floor again; only Nine is the one pinning Six.

"No fair!" Six pouts. Nine smiles.

"It's fair," he responds, removing one of his hands off of Six's arm to tickle her.

"Aieeeeeeeeeeee!" Six squeals. She shifts and tries to free herself but she can't. "Stop it! You win!" she shrieks when Nine tickles her again. He grins and lets her sit up. They look at each other and burst into a fit of laughter. I still can't believe how fast Six's mood changes. I'm so confused that I barely notice Sandor walking over to me.

"What's up with them? One minute, they can't stand each other and the next they're best friends," he questions, glancing over at me for an answer. I shrug and watch them closely. Six is whispering in Nine's ear. The both break into grins and look at Sandor and I.

"Is it me or are they plotting something?" I ask nervously, ignoring his question. _Wow, Kater. Leave it to you to be scared of little kids!_

"It's not just you, I've noticed it too," Sandor responds. We both watch the Garde stand up slowly. I hear something drop behind me and I turn to look at it. Bad idea.

While I'm distracted, Six seizes the moment to charge and tackle me by the knees. I fall to the ground and, just as quickly as she approached, Six has my arms and legs pinned. She's not strong compared to me, but the way her hands grip my arms force me to stay down. Did I teach her that? I hear a grunt and a thud next to me and know that Nine has tackled Sandor. He looks at me and I notice Nine has him trapped like I am. We sit like that until Six's fingers lightly brush over my stomach. I cry out and squirm to no avail.

"Nine! Stop it!" Sandor laughs beside me and I know Nine is tickling him too. Six continues to tickle me and I laugh.

"Give up?" she asks.

"Never!" I snarl jokingly and try to push her off. I succeed, but my victory doesn't last long because I'm on the floor again in a heartbeat. Six tries to pin me down and fails. I roll on top of her and hold her down. "Give up?" I question, throwing Six's words back at her. She doesn't miss a beat.

"Nope!" she laughs. She starts to squirm again and manages to free herself. We roll around like that for a little while, me pinning Six down or Six pinning me down. Six is on top when a grinning Sandor lifts her from me. Nine is wrapped around his legs.

"Alright, enough play time, it's almost time for dinner," he announces, setting Six back down on the ground.

"Yay! Dinner! I'm hungry!" Nine yells happily. Six skips over to him.

"Me too!" she agrees. "Let's race! First one to the dinning room wins." Nine grins and takes off with Six at his heels. I glance over at Sandor.

"I'm hungry too, let's go," he says.

"Let's race, first one to the dining room wins!" I declare, using Six's words. I turn around and sprint away. I hear footsteps behind me and know that Sandor is running too. We reach the dining room breathless, me first.

"Damn, you win," Sandor mutters, leaning over. I'm winded too, but I can't help but grin. I've only run faster once, and that was the day of the invasion.

"That was fun!" I say. Sandor glares at me.

"Only 'cause you won!"

"No!"

"Yeah!"

"No!" I declare angrily. _Oh no! _I think. _I'm becoming just like Six!_

Then again, I'm not so sure that's a bad thing.

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**Was anyone too mature? Immature? Was it too short? Too long? Was it good? Bad? Okay?**


	8. Chapter 8: Food Fight

**Hello! Wow, two chapters in one weekend! Whew! So, how was it? Was it good? I was thinking of starting a new story (I already mentioned this) but I have two ideas now. Should I make it after the war or after TFoF? And now, because I keep forgetting...**

**DISCLAIMER: I (still) do not own Lorien Legacies.**

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**Henna-**

"Stop playing with your food and start eating it!" Hessu snaps. One groans and shoves a fork full of _meatloaf-from-a-bag_ into her mouth.

"Bleh, disgusting!" she complains. Hessu rolls her eyes.

"I don't care if it's disgusting, just eat it!" she hisses. I smile; it's hilarious to see the other Cêpans get frustrated. Hessu glares at me. My grin widens and I look around. All of the other Garde are eating obediently; some of them don't look satisfied while the others don't seem to mind this _space-food_. I, for one, hate it, but I have to eat if I want to stay strong. One recently got over the flu, that's probably why she doesn't want to eat. Her appetite isn't back yet. I look down at my plate and continue devouring my dinner. Suddenly, Five cries out.

"Ahhh!" he yells. Seventeen heads turn in his direction. Several of the Garde children, and Sandor, start to laugh. I have to suppress my laughter when I see that Five has meatloaf splattered all over his face.

"Oops," One says guiltily. She's holding her spoon and it is pointing in Five's direction. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"You threw meatloaf at me!" Five shouts. He reaches on his plate and scoops up a handful of mashed potatoes. He then whips it at One and misses, instead hitting Six. Six wipes the food off her face and glares viciously at Five. The little boy shrinks back, afraid.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that!" she yells furiously as she grabs a handful of peas and chucks them at him. Five ducks out-of-the-way and the peas hit Three.

"OW!" he screams, bringing a hand up to his face. "It got in my eye!" Still shutting one eye, my charge grabs some of his meatloaf and throws it in a random direction. The blob of meat soars straight towards Nine, but he ducks just in time. He sits back up with a grin on his face.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Nine howls and immediately starts throwing food at the kids near him. Four is hit by flying potatoes and he quickly joins the fight by tossing peas at Two.

Within a minute, the room is in complete chaos. I'm hit in the face by a particularly big chunk of meatloaf and decide to whip some in the general direction it came from. My food hits Sandor right in the face and he nearly falls over.

"WHAT THE HELL?" he shouts as he grabs some of his corn and throws it at me. I raise my hands to block it but I'm too late. My face is bombarded by little pieces of corn. Kater laughs beside me and I splatter mashed potatoes all over her. After that, I don't pay attention to her and turn around, trying to calm down Three as he laughs and chucks food at the people seated across from him. I shouldn't have turned my back on Kater. The next thing I know, there is ice-cold water being poured down my back. I cry out loudly and shiver as the cold liquid splashes down my spine. I spin and face her but she's already lost focus on me and has already started chucking meatloaf at Adel. Brandon is standing, covered in food, trying to calm everyone down. He is failing miserably.

While Kater is distracted, I pour my drink over her head. She gasps.

"I can't believe you just did that!" she shouts at me over the screaming, laughing kids. I smile and shrug.

"What goes around come around," I say. "Next time, don't pour water down my back." Kater frowns as potatoes splat against her skull.

"Hold on," she mutters and turns around to face Adel and Reynolds, who have teamed up. I turn to Three again and try to calm him down. I'm thankful when Brandon comes to the rescue because I can't seem to get my charge to stop throwing food.

"ENOUGH!" Brandon barks, his voice louder than the ruckus of the food fight. Everyone stops to look at him. He is standing on his chair, covered head-to-toe in food. "NO MORE THROWING FOOD! IF I SEE ANY MORE AIRBORNE FOOD I WILL MAKE SURE ALL NINE OF YOU HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO THINK ABOUT WHAT WENT WRONG IN YOUR ROOMS WITH NOTHING TO DO!" No one speaks; we all know Brandon isn't done yet. "I WANT EVERYONE TO STAY HERE AND HELP CLEAN UP! NO ONE MAY LEAVE UNTIL THIS ROOM IS SPOTLESS, GOT IT?" The nine Garde nod quickly and scramble to their feet, running to the kitchen to get cleaning supplies. Conrad looks at Brandon.

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" he asks the still-fuming Cêpan. Brandon glares at Conrad.

"They started a _food fight_. And they didn't listen when we told them to stop. Well, when I told them to stop. _You_ were all too busy trying to maim each other with your dinner. I'm disappointed. You guys are supposed to be the adults," he spits.

"Aw, c'mon. We were only having fun!" Reynolds says. Brandon scoffs.

"Whatever, let's just clean up. I'll lecture everyone in the morning." The Garde come back just as he finishes saying this.

"Come on," Adel says quietly. "Let's clean up." The dining room isn't clean until three hours later. Even with all of us working.

Hessu looks around and then says, "Bedtime." The children all turn around and walk down the hallway to their rooms silently.

"That was fun, at least until Brandon ruined it," Sandor murmurs as we walk to our sleeping quarters, after the kids.

"Yeah," I say. Sandor and I aren't very close, but, for once, I agree with him.

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**I was thinking of doing the next chapter about the flu spreading around the ship. Is that a good idea? And how about this chapter, is it good? Does this seem likely to happen on the ship? If anyone has any other ideas, please tell me!**


	9. Chapter 9: Flu

**I'm so, so sorry about the long wait. I apologize and I hope it will never happen again. To make up for it, I made this longer than most of my other one-shots. Recently, I started a new story, and as much as I enjoy writing it, I think I'm getting ****overwhelmed. But, I have almost no homework this weekend as well as no volleyball tournaments, so I might update my other story as well. Anyway, please enjoy this long one-shot. I might even continue it.**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything that comes from the Lorien Legacies books.**

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**Sandor-**

I slowly blink my eyes open, surfacing from a deep sleep. Yawning, I lazily stretch and glance around the room with my eyes half open. I can't remember how long it's been since I slept in. While closing my eyes and preparing to doze off again, I'm hit with a sudden realization that jolts me back awake.

_Nine._

Where is he? I sit up frantically, wide-awake and desperately scanning my surroundings. _Uh oh._

"Hey Sandor, breakfast is almost ready," a voice says from the door. I don't respond and try to get up, but being as panicked and worried as I am, I end up rolling and falling out of bed. The funny thing, though, is that I don't care. I've got a bad feeling about Nine and his absence.

"Sandor?" Brandon asks.

"Nine!" I half-shout to no one in particular. I leap to my feet and stare at the figure in the doorway. "Where's Nine?" I demand. Brandon scratches his head.

"I don't know. Why?" he replies, confused.

"He didn't wake me up. Something's wrong." Brandon can hear how upset I am immediately.

"I think Nine is still sleeping. He's fine," Brandon says, trying to reassure me. It doesn't work. It actually makes me worry more.

"No, he's not _fine_. Nine has woken me up every morning at 6:00 for, uh, however long we've been on this ship. My point is: Nine didn't wake me up, so something's wrong."

"Maybe he wanted to sleep in," Brandon offers. I shake my head.

"No no no no no no, Nine doesn't sleep in. Something's wrong, I can feel it."

"We can go check on him, if you want."

"Yes, let's go." I hurry out of the room with Brandon right behind me. The two of us race down the hallway and enter the boy's room near the end. The only ones in there are Nine and Five, who's been recovering after catching the flu from One. Five looks at me when I dash across the room.

"See? He's sleeping. Come on, Sandor. I'm hungry," Brandon urges. I shoo him away and give Nine a little shake. He opens his eyes and smiles weakly at me.

"Hi Sandor," he whispers.

"Hey kiddo, what's wrong? How come you didn't wake me this morning?" I ask softly. Nine shrugs.

"I dunno, I'm tired," he replies. I press the back of my hand to his forehead and am shocked to find he's got a fever.

"Well, buddy. You're burning up. I think you caught One's flu. Do you want me to take you to the auto-doc? Or maybe I should get the thermometer first and see how bad it is. How do you feel, other than being tired?" I hear a chuckle from behind me and I whip around to face Brandon. "What?"

"Oh, nothing. It's just that I never expected to hear those words come out of your mouth. It's surprising how much you've changed, Sandor. How much you've grown up." I roll my eyes and turn back to Nine.

"How do you feel?" I ask him again.

"My head hurts, my tummy hurts and I'm really really cold," he answers.

"Hmmm," I say, stroking my chin. "I think you need to take a trip to the auto-doc." Nine shakes his head and pulls the sheets of his bead closer to him.

"Can I stay here?" he asks quietly. Sighing, I give in.

"Yeah, I'll get a thermometer… If I can find it," I say while turning to face Brandon, who rolls his eyes.

"I'll go get some medicine and the thermometer," he mutters agreeably, leaving Nine, Five and me alone.

"Do you want something to eat?" I ask him. Nine shakes his head. I sit and think, trying to come up with a way to convince him to eat when and idea surfaces. "I'll be right back, okay?" Nine watches me go, looking devastated that he can't follow me. I hurry to the kitchen and catch Adel as she's cleaning up.

"Oh, hi Sandor," she says as she scrubs the counter. I smile at her and ask my question.

"Do you happen to know where the chocolate and milk are?"

"Umm, yeah. We have some chocolate and milk powder, if that's what you mean. There's no solid food, you need to add water to the powder," she answers, giving me a strange look. "Why do you want to know?"

"Nine's sick and I want to make him hot chocolate. He not hungry and I figured that hot chocolate would be an exception. At least it's something; I don't want Nine to starve. And, who doesn't want hot chocolate!" I exclaim. Adel laughs and playfully pushes me.

"Some people don't like chocolate," she murmurs.

"I know, but that's, like, 5% of the entire Loric population," I say. Adel continues cleaning but stops, almost like she's considering something. She finally decides on what she wants to do and looks at me.

"You know what? I'll make you two hot chocolate. You keep him company," she suggests as she turns to open the cabinets but stops and faces me again. "It's so weird, seeing you act like a concerned grownup." I frown at her.

"Is that bad?"

"No, I think it's a good thing. It means Nine is in good hands," she replies while giving my arm a squeeze.

"Well, thank you." I smile at her and exit the room. Adel just laughs again and starts to make the hot chocolate. I speed walk down the hallway once again, entering Nine's room. His face lights up when I arrive.

"Brandon came and gave me medicine and took my tempur, tempour, temp…" he starts, stuttering when he has to pronounce the large word, but I cut him off.

"Temperature," I correct. Nine grins weakly.

"Yeah." We sit for a while in silence, Nine closing his eyes and me watching him.

"Did someone order hot chocolate?" a female voice asks. We both turn and see Adel smiling and holding two cups of hot chocolate. She makes her way over to us and gives one cup to Nine and one to me. Nine gasps, suddenly a bit more awake.

"Yay!" he cries as the warm drink is handed to him. He brings the cup to his lips and takes a sip. "Mmmmmm!" I sip my own.

"Wow. This is delicious, Adel," I say. She blushes.

"I also brought a tablet so you can watch movies," she mutters, handing me the rectangular device. I grin at her.

"Do you want to stay and watch something with us?" I ask. Nine beams when I ask her.

"Yeah, we could have a movie party!" he squeals. Adel and I both shake our heads.

"No, you're sick. Remember? I'll watch the movies with ya, okay?" I remind him.

"And I have to keep an eye on my own Garde," she says, standing up to leave. "Have fun!"

"Okay!" Nine exclaims happily while trying to turn the tablet on. I laugh and help him. Once it's on, we spend the rest of the day watching movies from Earth. I'll admit it; it was fun to just sit in bed and watch movies with Nine. He's actually really sweet when he's not overflowing with energy.

"Can we watch movies again tomorrow?" he asks me as I turn off his room's light.

"I don't know, I think I have to have some combat lessons tomorrow. I'll try to find some time, okay buddy?" I say.

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight Nine."

…

There's a painful pounding in my head when I wake up the next day. I pull the covers over myself and shiver. I don't want to move. I don't want to do anything.

"Get up, Sandor. It's time for breakfast!" Reynolds calls from my doorway. The mere mention of food makes me nauseous and I immediately start to feel sick to my stomach.

"Go away," I moan. Reynolds walks over to me and presses his hand to my forehead.

"Oh, Sandor. You have a fever," he exclaims. Whoops. I forgot how quickly and easily the flu could spread. Now I'm sick.

I guess I am going to spend today hanging out with Nine again.

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**At first, I planned on having Nine be all obnoxious and dramatic, but I guess my brain had other ideas. But, to be honest, I kinda like the cute little Nine that's nowhere near obnoxious, don't you? Okay, question time! Was it good? Did anything seem ****wrong? Did anyone act different then they're supposed to? Was anyone too mature? Was anyone OOC? Did you like how I tried to get Nine to sound more like a little kid? Ahhh, I just love little kid vocabulary. To all of you that actually read my author's notes and review: Thank you. You guys are who keep me writing.**


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